念书与读书

　　沙眼

　　何妨把念书和读书来一个新意义划分，就像区别旅游和旅行那样。时人流行旅游，淡泊旅行。教育这回事，当今兴的也是念书，不是读书。

　　到学校生活，像打一场仗，参与者身上装的，是各种掠夺分数的锦囊。考关一过，不管分数到手与否，一律把生吞活剥的知识忘掉。这种心态，书，真是用来念书的，念过便算数，不必消化，更不必用心。依此类推，书念得多，不一定成仙得佛，要例证满街都是。会考结束那天，小女孩那帮人欢呼：可以把书丢掉啦!是典型的念书力证。把这种现象归于念书旗下，可捡来“小和尚念经，有口没心”一句撑腰，解释比较圆满。

　　投入心思，广为涉猎，类此归纳、消化分析书中材料，不以分数为终极，才具备“读书”的起码要求。读书以兴趣出发，以诚意相许，读书只有歇脚小站，没有终点。

　　读书是长途旅行，是开拓心灵的漫长陶冶过程;念书是短程旅游，是满足文凭欲望的虚幻纸笔战争。读书是春风化雨，修得一身气质，终身受用;念书是糊涂度日，走一段世俗小路，荒凉而乏善可陈。

　　天底下念书的人多，读书者少。因为读书需要跋涉，讲求兴趣与耐力，缺一不可。

　　Two Ways of Reading

　　Sha Yan

　　We may as well mark out the difference between two ways of reading expressed in synonyms which can be used interchangeably in Chinese. Here I’d like to interpret one as mechanical reading and the other as intelligent reading. In a like manner we can distinguish touring with traveling. The former is preferred to the latter so far as today’s fashion goes. In terms of education, it is mechanical reading rather than intelligent reading that is prevailing.

　　School life can be likened to a battle in which all the participants are equipped with bags of schemes to achieve good results in examinations. As soon as the session is over, they throw into oblivion all that they’ve mechanically memorized before they know what grades they are given. This mental state shows clearly that books are meant to be recited, no more no less. The moment their purpose is served, they are done away with. Nobody bothers to pay any attention to their contents, let alone digest them. It follows naturally that reading this way won’t lead to anywhere near Paradise even if one has finished a great amount of books. Numerous evidences are there for the asking. Don’t you see how joyful those girls are when they celebrate the end of examinations by throwing away their books? It is the strongest proof that reading is done merely by rote. Also the popular saying: “A novice chants scriptures – he moves his mouth without troubling his mind.” Nothing else illustrates the point more satisfactorily.

　　On the other hand, intelligent reading never aims at examination results. It requires devotion – one has to devote time and energies to extensive reading from which to draw useful materials. Then proceed from comparison and analysis to assimilation. Reading this way is prompted by interest and done in earnestness. There may be stopovers on the way, but certainly no end.

　　It is a long-distance travel, an endless process of opening up vistas for the mind; while mechanical reading is but a short tour along the narrow path of worldliness with one’s view never beyond one’s nose. The former enlivens one like life-giving spring rain and breeze, resulting in a well-cultivated mind to last as long as he lives; the latter makes one muddle along, engages him in a battle of examinations to fight for diplomas, and end up in fruitlessness.

　　There are too many people in the world engaged in mechanical reading, only a few read intelligently. That’s because the latter demands two requisites – interest and stamina – for it to travel far and wide.